More than Just A Boneheaded Mistake
By Carolyn Kay on August 13, 2008 at 3:00 PM in Barack Obama, Chicago, Chicago Mansion, Home Loan, Justice, Michelle Obama, Nadhmi Auchi, Northern Trust, Obama, Patrick Fitzgerald, Rezko, Tony Rezko, Transparency
Carolyn Kay of MakeThemAccountable.com
So you thought the problem of Barack and Michelle Obamas’ 2005 mansion purchase was dead and buried.
Well, not any more.
A reader of my website who is a tax accountant of many years, one who specializes in criminal matters, says he believes the Obamas have a tax problem.
Simply put, the allocation of purchase price between the Obamas’ lot and the lot next door, which were both owned by the same couple and had long been sold together, makes no sense unless the amount paid for the lot adjoining the Obamas’ by the wife of now convicted political fixer Tony Rezko was specifically meant as a favor to the Obamas so that they could afford their mansion.
If so, the difference between what Ms. Rezko paid for the side lot and what it was actually worth would be construed by the IRS as income to the Obamas. After looking at the Obamas’ tax return for 2005, my source was able to say that in his opinion they did not declare any such income, and therefore did not pay taxes on it. Much worse. If Barack Obama were to attain the White House, this problem could be devastating for the Democratic Party, says my source. That is why he wants this information made public now. Here are the specifics. On June 15, 2005 , Barack and Michelle Obama bought a landmark mansion on Chicago’s South Side for $1.65 million. The lot next door was sold the same day for $625,000 to Rita Rezko, wife of Antoin “Tony” Rezko. Tony Rezko was at that time under investigation for fraud and influence peddling, for which he was eventually convicted. The specifics of these sale transactions were reported by the Chicago Tribune in an article published November 1, 2006 . The information on the sale is also available online at the website of the Cook County Recorder of Deeds. According to the Tribune, the Obamas’ price was “some $300,000 less than the asking price.” The Rezko property, the article said, was purchased for “the full … asking price.” That means the previous owners were paid $2.275 million for the two properties. It is reasonable to assume, then, that when the previous owners listed the properties for sale, their asking price for the two was $2. 575 million or thereabouts. How that total amount became the two amounts is what is at issue here. Obama claimed in a long interview with Chicago media on March 14, 2008, as Tony Rezko was about to go to trial, that the sellers had tried to sell the house and adjoining lot together, but were not receiving offers as a result of the high price. The sellers, he said, had already listed the properties separately by the time he and Michelle became serious about making an offer, and that the house, along with its lot, was listed for $1.9 million. I understand from knowledgeable sources that the multiple listing service for the area may have the records to confirm this assertion, but I do not have access to those kinds of records. Archpundit, an Illinois blogger and strong Obama supporter, somehow obtained access to 94 pages of related documents (pdf) he posted earlier this year, which contain documentation of the $1.9 million listing in January of 2005. No earlier listings were printed. Taking Obama at his word, we are led to believe that the sellers are the ones who allocated the $2.5 million or so that they wanted, in total, between the two properties. Since we do not have access to the original calculation and who made it, we can only try to determine if the allocation made at the time was reasonable. Intrinsic Value
An empty lot only has value to a developer, or a developer’s wife, if he can build on it and sell for a profit.
Could the Rezkos have done that?
The Obamas’ house is in is an official landmark district, and I learned from a Senior Permit Reviewer at the Landmarks Division of the Chicago Department of Planning and Development that any construction in that district must be approved by the Commission on Chicago Landmarks.
She said the Commission makes sure that the construction conforms to the look and feel of the neighboring structures.
That means, for the district in question, that the structure could not be a high rise.
A one-unit home is a possibility, but would have to be very expensive in order to ensure a profit.
A small condominium building or several town houses might be a possibility, given the proper zoning, but they would also have to be expensive.
Of course, expensive is the norm for that neighborhood.
I am not an expert on real estate development, but it does seem that there might be potential for some profit in building on the empty lot bought by Rita Rezko.
The property, after 1,500 square feet was sold to the Obamas (see below), has changed hands twice since Rita Rezko bought it. According to the Cook County Recorder’s website, Rita Rezko sold the property on 12/28/06 for $575,000 to 5050 S Greenwood LLC.
Bloomberg reported on February 18, 2008 that the buyer’s name was Michael Sreenan.
5050 S Greenwood LLC sold the property to John D. and Marjorie S. Poulos on 3/17/08 for $675,000.
I do not know these people, nor do I know their relationship, if any, to the Rezkos.
If they do have business or personal relationships with Tony Rezko, these would not be the kind of arm’s length transactions that would ensure a market price for the property.
Comparison of Naked Land Values
It is common in the real estate industry to separate the house vs. land value from a total purchase price by assuming that 75% of the price is attributable to the house and 25% to the land.
And 25% of the $1.65 million that the Obamas paid for their house and land is $412,500.
By this test, the Rezko property should have been priced at less than that amount, as it had less square footage. Instead, Rita Rezko paid one and a half times as much.
Assessment Associated with a Subsequent Transaction
Again from the 11/1/06 Tribune article (and also from the Recorder’s Office’s online records), we know that on January 11, 2006 the Obamas bought a strip of the Rezko lot that adjoined their property.
As the Tribune describes the transaction,
Using a standard formula, Obama’s appraiser estimated the 1,500-square-foot portion at a market value of $40,500.
But Obama felt it would be fair to pay the Rezkos $104,500, or a sixth of their original $625,000 purchase price, because he was acquiring a sixth of their land.
If an assessor valued 1/6 of the property at $40,500, wouldn’t that mean the market value assessment of the whole Rezko property at that time would be $40,500 x 6 = $243,000? Admittedly, the valuation of a strip of land may be lower because it is such a small portion of a property, but could that possibility account for the huge difference between the two values?The Times of London created a handy graphic to help visualize the properties and the transactions (extracted from this pdf file):
Relative Assessed Values
The Cook County Assessor’s website shows only the current assessed values of the two properties, but by a call to the office I was able to find out the 2005 assessments for tax purposes. Be aware that assessed values for taxes in Chicago are not anywhere near the market value.
I am only concerned here with the relative values, which should give us some indication whether the allocation of purchase prices between the two properties might have been reasonable.
|
|
2005 Assessment |
Pct |
|
Obama property
(house and lot) |
132,980 |
/ 142,855 = 93% |
|
Rezko property
(lot only)
|
9,875 |
/ 142,855 =7% |
The allocation between the two properties at the time of the listing was about 75% for the house and its lot ($1.9 million), and 25% for the adjoining lot ($625,000). That is very much out of kilter from the allocation above, based on assessed values.
What the Obamas Could Afford
At the time, the Obamas’ finances were good, but not good enough to buy a $2.5 million mansion.
The 11/1/06 Tribune article reports that the Obamas obtained a $1.32 million mortgage on their property (the information is also available on the Recorder’s Office website).
That means their down payment was $330,000 ($1.65 million - $1.32 million).
A venerable institution like the Northern Trust, which lent the Obamas the money, would never have engaged in any of the risky practices that later caused the housing market crash.
Therefore, they would have applied a formula to determine what the Obamas could afford to pay for their home, based primarily on the size of the down payment.
Apparently, the magic number turned out to be $1.65 million.
The Obamas wanted the mansion.
But the sellers, as we saw, wanted more for the two lots than the Obamas could afford or were willing to pay.
Who Determined the Relative Prices and How?
According to Obama’s 3/16/08 Chicago media interview, he played no part in the determination of the properties’ prices.
The sellers have refused to speak to the media.
A member of the Obama campaign spoke with the husband of the couple, and exchanged emails, portions of which were shared with a Bloomberg reporter, who wrote on February 18, 2008,
The e-mail says that the sellers “did not offer or give the Obamas a ‘discount’ on the house price on the basis of or in relation to the price offered and accepted on the lot.” It also says that “in the course of the negotiation over the sales price,” Obama and his wife, Michelle, “made several offers until the one accepted at $1.65 million, and that this was the best offer [the sellers] received on the house.”…
The e-mail between [the seller] and the campaign adviser also says that the sellers had “stipulated that the closing dates for the two properties were to be the same.”
But no statement has been made public by the sellers about how the price allocation between the two properties was made, or when, or whether anyone influenced that calculation.Obama seems to believe that what he said at his 3/16/08 press conference with Chicago media is all he ever has to say on this subject.Neither of the Rezkos has spoken publicly about these land deals. But Tony Rezko was convicted in early June of 2008 for fraud and influence peddling by the office of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald.
Presumably, that office is now negotiating with Rezko as to whether he will testify against any of his cohorts and any other information he can provide for further investigations by that office.Barack Obama has not been implicated in any of the wrongdoing for which Rezko was convicted, but might Rezko be tempted to reveal his side of this transaction? He was an experienced developer.
He was broke, $50 million in debt, and living on borrowed money at the time of the 2005 purchase, according to ABC News’ The Blotter on March 5, 2008. According to the article, Rita Rezko made only $37,500 per year, six months after the purchase and,
Rezko’s bleak financial picture raises the question of how the Rezkos were able to buy a vacant lot adjoining the home of Sen. Barack Obama in 2005, at a time Rezko says he was already in deep debt…
How were the Rezkos able to make the down payment, and qualify for the loan, on the lot?
The same story may give us a clue:
[Rezko] said he had an ongoing relationship with Nadhmi Auchi, a London-based Iraqi billionaire convicted on French fraud charges, who Rezko described as a close friend and business associate.
Did the “ongoing relationship” between Rezko and the Iraqi-born Auchi involve money changing hands prior to the purchase of the lot next to the Obamas?
It did in 2007, according to now retired Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak.
On February 28, 2008 Novak reported that Rezko “got $3.5 million from Auchi’s company in April 2007.”
In other words, did foreign money enable a U.S. Senator to buy his mansion?There could also be Senate ethical considerations for Senator Obama, if he did not disclose a benefit to him, as required by Chapter 5 of the Senate Ethics Manual (pdf).Judicial Watch has already filed ethics complaints over the house purchase, in regard to what it considers preferential treatment for Obama in obtaining the mortgage on the property.
From the press release:
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today [date not given] that it has filed separate complaints with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee against Senator Barack Obama for allegedly accepting a below-market rate mortgage loan in 2005 not available to the general consumer.
Patrick Fitzgerald sent a former Illinois governor to prison.
He brought down the top aide of a sitting vice president of the United States.
He continues to investigate Rezko and his partners’ actions to determine if there were more illegalities, especially whether the sitting Illinois governor could be involved. He may be interested in what Rezko has to say about this property purchase next door to a U.S. Senator, now a presidential candidate.
And Rezko may be willing to talk, in exchange for a more lenient sentence, scheduled to be handed down on September 3, 2008.
Republicans flocking to Obama is a myth —
http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2008/08/12/the-obamacan-movement-myth.aspx
Newsweek readership is down. They send me a free subscription. I use it for the bird cage.
I wrote them a blistering e-mail and cancelled my subscription about four months ago. It’s all in the money. Hit them where it hurts.
Sorry Yo,
I’m jumping the train here to clear up some stuff.
I retired from Real Estate Appraisal a few years ago precisely due to the corrupt nature of the Mortgage business. I still remember how to crunch the numbers however and although I must complement many of you for your math skills and excellent extrapolation of these numbers, but that ain’t how it works.
Regarding the valuation of the Rezko lot, you CANNOT do it the way you’re trying.
The correct thing to be done is to do a Market Approach to value. One would look up the sales of vacant lots as near in size and location to Rezko’s and at the same time in history as possible. A few simple location/traffic adjustments and you’d have an indicated square foot value which you could then apply to the subject. (Next door, same size, same sale date, same terms is the ideal) They are the ‘comparables’ an appraiser would have to use for an honest lender to approve the loan.
The Cost approach could also be used to determine land value if you had performed studies regarding the dollar per square foot value for these types of high ticket homes. (this poop is available from services for a fee) You would then subtract the age / condition adjusted value of the house from the sales price and the remainder would be the “indicated” value. A less approved method is available whereby one would try to find a house as near to identical to Barry’s as possible. (this is much easier to do in sub-divisions)
After making the adjustments to value which are attributable to differences in the structures, a number is indicated which can be ascribed to the lot only, based on value by square foot. Any appraiser who would hang his hat on any of these approaches except the Market Approach is committing professional suicide.
Congrats! You Are Now an Unlicensed Appraiser
This story telling is to complex.
It’s simple.
The Obamas said 1.6 million for the house. The sellers said 1.9 million for the house alone, or 2.2 million for the house and neighboring lot together.
The Obamas really really wanted that house, so they got the Rezkos to put up the money and buy the side lot.
Further, the respective contributions were adjusted so that the Rezkos paid double the price for the lot, so that the Obamas got their $1.9 million dreamhome for $1.6 million.
In other words, via the land transactions, $300,000 of value was laundered to the Obamas.
Capiche?
Which is about $300,000.
Which is about what the sellers wanted: $300,000 for the side lot + $1.9 million for the house = $2.2 million.
But the Rezkos paid $600,000, double the amount.
Ergo, the Obamas received a $300,000 benefit from the Rezkos.
If it wasn’t dirty, Obama wouldn’t have lied about it before, e.g., “forgetting” Tony Rezko and The Holy One toured the house together before purchase.
When the Obamas wanted to buy a strip of the lot they offered fair market value, at first, then realized in this one on one money transaction would be more transparent in the records, so they upped it to ~100k.
One can talk about the side lot on and on but the key to understanding this is not the sale of the strip of land,
But the original purchase.
The Obamas got their $1.9 million home for $1.6 million.
Is the $300,000 a taxable event?
My comment about it being “simple” comes from a cynical view, I didn’t read the fluff. Here it is:
1. who said it was the “full asking price”? Is there a listing? If it comes from the Obama camp, the reporter was misled, though still finds wrongdoing.
More likely the sellers wanted about $300,000, a little more than the assessed value.
AND 300,ooo is exactly the price Obama paid BELOW the asking price
How could the Rezkos make a 625,000 investment on a lot, sell 1/6 of it for 104,000. then sell the rest of it for 575,000 and still be accused of making a 300,000 contribution to Obama? He shouldn’t have involved himself with a shady character such as Rezko, however, this transaction has been scrutinized to the smallest detail, and no one is suggesting that the transaction was improper. There are plenty of other problems with BO, this is a non-starter.
Tons of people are asserting it isn’t an honest deal.
I AM SAYING THEY COMMITTED FRAUD.
Sue me Barry if I’m lying. Isn’t this defamation if I’m wrong?
Parashoot,
You know so little about this that to insult your ignorance wastes too much time. Go to http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com
Read their archives. Learn something before you try trolling in these deep waters or you’ll drown in your own ignorance.
And of course the Obamas did not report this as income - not to dodge taxes but because it is ILLEGAL for a Senator to accept gift - or services - whose value exceeds $50 or $100 over the course of a year. That is why Ted Stevens is under indictment. He was not charged with accepting bribes, just accepting gifts that violates this ban. Since it would be too hard to prove that he supported legislation in return for the gifts because so he was only charged with accepting them. I have been asking for months why this deal was not a violation just like Stevens’ actions. They seem very similar to me.
Well done Bernie!
Hell yes, this counts as a gift.
laundered ; As well as the 675k that Rezko used.
near a cool mil got washed…
Whew! THANK YOU FOR THAT SYNOPSIS. I WAS LOST FOR A WHILE….
Sheesh with so many RICH Shady friends why would Obama worry about a few million blue collar ‘enemies’?
Because he’s a narcisist.
I heard, last night , from Ed Hale’s radio that his house is on sale!! Any information on that?
you mean “For sale”?
you’d think that the dnc operatives would have gone over these things and cleaned them up. geez
Another IRS moment…Has anything even been done about this? Or another one day wonder? No one mentions all those parking tickets in Mass he paid just before filing to run for Prez. I am tired of his skating.
http://rightvoices.com/2008/02/27/irs-investigating-obamas-church/
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/02/26/irs_investigating_obamas_churc_2.html
Has anyone looked into the history of that property?
Was it considered “two” properties when the previous owner purchased it?
Was it on the market as two properties?
Surely this is basic info that could be ascertained.
What would be more interesting to look into than this property…is just how did Obama and Michelle come up with a 6 figure downpayment on their condo. It couldn’t have been his first book he had to give all that money back and it was only 40,000. He was the only one working and he only made a little over 20,000 a year. How exactly did someone making a little over 20 grand a year come up with not only a 6 figure downpayment, but how did they even qualify for a home that still was owed over 6 figures on?
There were previous posts on NQ explaining how the properties were separated. The “vacant lot” was actually the side yard of the house. They were able to separate the lot from the house because Michelle was on the city landmarks commission at the time.
Why doesn’t anyone ever say anything about Michelle Obama’s involvement with the Chicago political machine? Her father was a precinct captain and had a patronage job. Michelle was an assistant to Mayor Daley.
I remember that thread, ritamary.
I also remember someone saying that we should keep an eye on that leftover strip…anyone could pick it up for the amount of unpaid taxes, if the Rezkos planned on letting the Obamas get the rest of it by not paying taxes on it.
I just wish someone would post previous surveys of that property along with the date the yard was “separated” from the house.
Guys,
All this stuff. ALL THIS STUFF has been researched up the wazoo and is available from the good folks over at http://therealbarackobama.wordpress.com
They used to be RezkoWatch and we chased this thing into the ground.
The Illinois Appraisal License guys are checking into the appraisal used to lend Barry the money. It had to be fraudulent. Any falsehood Barry and Michelle put down in writing on their loan app (and there have to be tons of ‘em) is tacit admission of guilt in attempted fraud.
Fitzgerald knows this. Half of Chicago knows this.
Read the Rezko archives over at Real Barack Obama.
If you haven’t yet, you just don’t have enough ammo on Barry. His crimes in Chicago are massive!
RezkoWatch deserves much more credit than they ever got.
Do yourselves a favor, take some time and read abouit Barry and Tony’s excellent adventure. You will crap yourselves
No, it was not two lots when the previous owner bought it. I don’t recall specifics, but something was discussed here and is probably n the archives. Michelle Obama sat on the Landmark Commission Board (or something like that) and saw the property come up for sale and it appealed to her… I don’t remember what changes needed to be made, but anyway, perhaps it was the lot division. Whatever it was got approved rather quickly and Michelle resigned from the Board after getting the house, if I remember correctly.
One of the owners, the woman, worked in the same hospital as Michelle.
The house and lot was sold previously together. Someone should trace down a MLS to see if the owners offered it separately before the Obamas got involved.
The previous owners also could have sold the house to the Obamas and then the lot at a later time. Instead they insisted that both close on the same day, in other words like a single package, but not really a single unit. Rezko was awfully handy.
One of the owners, the woman, worked in the same hospital as Michelle.
The house and lot were sold previously together. Someone should trace down a MLS to see if the owners offered it separately before the Obamas got involved.
The previous owners also could have sold the house to the Obamas and then the lot at a later time. Instead they insisted that both close on the same day, in other words like a single package, but not really a single unit. Rezko was awfully handy.
ARE you sure? I thought it was one property and that how Michelle got involved
I think this has been a single parcel since the house was built, must be 80 years. I think it was Rezko and Obama who got the owner to split the parcel so it could be sold this way.
I always wondered about selling the strip. I had a lot of trouble separating my parents’ double lot into two lots - and they were normal approved single lot sizes - so they could be built on separately. How, in a historical neighborhood, could you easily shave off a small strip from an existing lot and get permission to legally sell it separately? Not in any place I ever lived.
Do we have anyone in Chicago? This is easily obtainable info.
I am in a suburb of Chicago and I heard that is was for sale but haven’t turned up any information here on that. I think it would be top news here.
I mean someone can go down to the town hall or records department and see the surveys.
Well do not forget Michelle sat on a city board that helped them get by all the rules and regulations, she quit the board shortly after getting everything she wanted regarding her mansion.
That is true, the Historical Society or Historical Commission for that neighborhood would have had it’s hair standing on edge to see something like that happen.
In out neighborhood, they are referred to as the Hysterical Society because they are so overly concerned with any minutia happening in the neighborhood.
That is true, the Historical Society or Historical Commission for that neighborhood would have had it’s hair standing on edge to see something like that happen.
In our
In our neighborhood, they are referred to as the Hysterical Society because they are so overly concerned with any minutia happening in the neighborhood.
Right it doesn’t work that way, especially in a historical neighborhood. I also wonder what the bank thinks about Rezko carving up this property and making impossible to sell to anyone but the Obama’s now.
Notice the strip that remains next to the Obamas is not something a developer could do anything with; it’s so narrow.
It was already two properties, eligible to be sold separately, when the Obamas started looking at it. I checked the paperwork at the Cook County Recorder of Deeds, and found that there were two legal properties in 1998.
It’s just that they had always been sold together.
I couldn’t find anything wrong that involved Michelle’s membership on the Commission on Chicago Landmarks. Not saying there ISN’T anything, just that I didn’t find it.
Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com
Great article.
Anyone know why the sellers, the Wonsfords, aren’t talking?
They know enough to be a threat to Obama.
Michelle Obama is central to this “affair”. I is my firm belief that Michelle Obama “jammed” the sellers.
She was on the Historic Land Commission
She knew of the sellers from the hospital Job.
She was good friends with Rezko’s wife.
Rezko the “LLC Queen”, was only involved in such a way as to pick up the difference and hold the property. Obama during the interview with the Suntimes and Tribune responded to a question, to the effect he was “glad” Rezko owned the “lot”.
BO is flat out lying. He took a walk through with Rezko, Rezko sold him back the plot, which made his lot worthless. Rezko knew the guy with the option on the property, the week link in the deal. Rezko had worked with and knew all of the Real Estate agents for BO the Wonsfords and his agent.
After Rezko got popped, (ironiclly because of the money Auchi sent via the Panama front company to Rezko for the purchase of the property) it was sold to a lawyer of Rezko’s and John D. Poulso.
John D.Poulos
(Education
College: University of Illinois at Chicago(B.S. Kinesiology)
“http://www.drpouloschiropractor.com/#
Rebecca Poulos’s Blog (of Highland Park, IL)
——-
.
“http://www.ilcampaign.org/press/news/illinois/2006/06-2-16DaleyKin.html”
———
Theodore Poulos
Attorney
Cotsinilos Tighe & Streiter Updated
Q4/2007 $250
Munster IN Donation to Friends Of Dick Durbin Committee
“http://www.cotsiriloslaw.com/attorneys/theodore-t.-poulos.html”
John D. Poulso,
“http://www.drpouloschiropractor.com/#”
Rebecca Poulos ’s Blog (of Highland Park Illinios)
“http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/rebeccapoulos”
This is a den of corruption. In the end, the IRS is the least of Michelle Obama’s problems and Barack Soetoro? He is looking at a Shawshank.
Because Michelle Obama was on the Landmarks Commission, that is how she learned about the house being for sale, house sellers have to notify the Commission.
Hey if Barry is willing to break the law to get Michelle a house in Chicago, you not think he’d break even more laws to get his house he wants in Washington?
Mel, I think MO used her position for personal gain. She is not immune here either as far the law goes.
Lets face it. BO is lazy. MO drove this boat.
This is all off the top of my head, I have the actual numbers written somewhere, but I’ve said for a while, that it seemed to me, there was a big problems between what the Rezkos paid for the lot and what it was appraised for when Obama bought the strip,(shortly after) He made a big deal about the strip being apraised for 40,000 (times 6 is about 280,000)when they wanted to buy it, but to be “fair’ they gave 1/6th of the price Rita paid, which off the top of my head was about 105,000( times 6 about 630,000) which looked to me, like the difference of the 300,000 the Obama’s paid less than the asking price.
MY other questions was IF the entire lot was apraised for close to 300,000 when Obama’s bought the strip, I really doubt the land dropped that much since Rita bought it, SO HOW was Rita able to get a 600,000 mortgage on land worth about 300,000? (I know when we bought our house we were very nervous waiting for the appraisal since they would not give us a mortgage for more than the appraised value, incase we forclosed they don’t want to take a big loss) AND then of course the next question would be, when Rita sold Obama the 10 foot strip , the bank/mortgage comp still owned almost all of the land, so HOW were they able to subdived the land while the bank owned it?
I Believe the owners right after Rita Rezko, was one of their lawyers that they owed money to for his legal problems
Can you guys imagine where the Obamas would be if they were scrutinized as much as the Clintons?
I don’t think ANY individual - of either party - could ever survive what the Clintons have been through - both of them. Nope, the only ones who could still be successful in politics (18+ million votes, anybody?) and government and public life after going through that complete hell (from the opposition AND from their own UNGRATEFUL, DELUSIONAL party!), for that many years, are the Clintons.
Bill and Hillary - you are NATIONAL TREASURES - and you are my Heroes! And you are THE TRUE DEMOCRATS - all the others are poseurs and criminals.
When will their lives be scruitinized as closely as
the Clintons in ALL aspects: pre-politics thru
the present? Whatever the outcome in Denver. This
is a book that should be written on both Barack, Michelle and members of their family that we’ve seen
throughout the campaign.
One that will reach into life in Chicago. His up and
coming days. His “apprenticeship” and the early
with Daly Machine.
It could be an interesting read.
Where is Newt, Rush and company when you need them?
WOW!!! THIS is a GREAT question??!!! Too bad none of these fuc*ing idiot media pimps will do their JOB!!!!!!!
Therefore we cannot expose this biracial man as a criminal! That would make us racist!
The politically correct term is presumptive criminal, thus making us presumptive racists.
Call it what you will. I served 6 years on the board of my state’s NAACP and I really do not like Criminals and Crooks - no matter what color their skin is.
If everyone recalls, when MO’s dad died, BO was very upset - there went his in to Chicago politics. So like a good fiancee, MO has Valerie Jarret get her a job in Daley’s Office. Jarret was the Admin Asst. then.
They both somehow migrate to the dept working w/housing and voila - Rezko and associates at Rezmar and BO’s boss Allison Davis become wealthy slumlord developers.
And Bo gets a 6 figure down payment for his condo?
Does anyone here believe it’s all just happy coincidences?
ALso IF I am remembering correctly, at the time Rita “qualified” for a 600,000 mortgage SHE was only making about 35 grand a year.
I remember that part, too.
This doesn’t surprise me at all. They’ve thrown all rules and American laws to the wind to get behind Obama. When it came out his church was teaching Black Liberation Theology I thought the DNC will never get behind him. Racism is racism no matter how you try to doctor it up.
He chose to sit in that church being a racist for almost 20 years. They didn’t they stood behind him anyway. When it came out he ran under two party tickets the New Party and the Democratic Party. For the Black Panthers, I thought OK this will do him in with the DNC. No way will they support racism on either side. It didn’t. When his ties came out, then Rezko was charged I thought OK they’re going to distance themselves now. They didn’t. Look what they’ve allowed against Hillary, her supporters. Members of the Democratic party and claimed they never witnessed. Etc…etc.
Then they scratch their heads and wonder why so many of us have ran in the opposite direction. This was the same thing they did to Lieberman. Then again as they used Racism against Michael Steele(Republican or not. I was appalled when I saw what was being done to him.) calling him an Oreo, passing out Oreo cookies at his rally, and no one called them on it. Democrats calling him Uncle Tom, not one time that I saw other than by Republicans were they called on the racism of that from the MSM. Yet, both won their races. They should have learned then it then these tactics turn off voters; they didn’t. We all should have stood up during these races and said these are not the tactics we expect to come out of the DNC. Perhaps Hillary wouldn’t have had to go through half of what she did. We should have known if they can use discrimination and get away with it against a Jewish man and an African American what would stop them from using it against a woman? I partially blame myself for what was done to Hillary for not being more verbal when I witnessed what was going on two years ago.
Diana:
You are not alone. I had no problems vocalizing my disgust over the years at the treatment minority Republicans by the Dems race baiting faction. I was equally appalled at what they did to Senator Lieberman. I would’ve voted for him over Al Gore any day of the week.
However, my disgust for things Clinton had been turning when the “crying” comment came out in the MSM. I watched the video replay over and over and for the first time, I was geniunely appalled because 1) I thought Hillary was sincere and 2) I thought Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann solidified my view that she was sincere with their tasteless comments.
Are there disagreements between the core parties on social and economical solutions? Absolutely.
Does that give us a reason to tolerate abusive pack mentality? Absolutely not.
It isn’t just about country over party. It’s about decency, honesty, and respect over ideology and party allegiances.
Thank you for your post.
Don’t forget, Fitzgerald’s opening statements in the Rezko trial included the names of Blegojevich and Obama. Both names are on record as being implicated along with Rezko.
Dark clouds are still gathering for Obama over this one.
Good point….hmmm….
And Obama’s position in the Illinois Senate was used to ram through the law allowing Blagojevich to stack the special “pay-to-play” government commissions with his cronies controlled by Rezko. There was also credible testimony of regular meetings with Obama and Blagojevich at Rezko’s offices, and allegations of large cash payments to Blagojevich at one or more of those meetings. It is not accurate to say that Obama was in no way implicated during the Rezko trial. The digging and fact-finding is on-going, and Rezko will be further squeezed to get to Blagojevich, and through him, possibly on to Obama.
The real BIG BIG BIG questions here is when the seller of property purchased the house and lot ? where they purchased as 1 property and than have the deed split into 2 properties? or where they 2 properties when the seller purchase them? The reason for this is because on Zillow.com (Real Estate site used by millions) says that the Sellers purchase the property that Obama lives in 2000 for the same 1,650,000 that Obama paid in 2005 in the hottest real estate market ever (no Profit on the home was realized) Was all the profit beening put on the lot only ? What was the purchase price of the lot in 2000? the difference would be the profit or gift to Senator in my view
Yes, my husband went to Zillow and found that the price the sellers paid for the property in 2000 was the same 1.65 million the Obamas paid for it in 2005. He said something is really “off” about that transaction because as you said 2005 was the absolute peak of the housing market and that house should have sold for more than 2 million in 2005 just by itself. There is no way that house would be appraised or sell for the same price as five years earlier. There was huge payoff or backroom deal there even before the strip of land deal. I think the sellers were paid money under the table in 2005 when they sold the Obamas the house and that’s why they refuse to talk to anyone.
They were two properties in 1998 (I think that’s when the gut rehab was done) when they were included in a Deed in Trust, for which the beneficiary seems to have been the couple that sold the lot with the house to the Obamas.
I don’t know if that’s when the couple originally bought the house. I didn’t go back any further, because that was all I needed to know. All I was looking for was whether there were two legal properties prior to 2005. And there were.
Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com
Evelyn Pringle who has done a lot of investigative stories on Obama has said for a long time that although he has a lot of shady deals, it would be the house deal that would get him. It will be intresting to see if she is right.
What do you expect from a BONEHEAD?
It makes sense that the “house deal would be the thing that gets him”in the end since this is the first of his criminal connections to end up in prison. Michelle on a city board and working for Daley? the birth certificate, Rev Wright, Father Pfleger, Ayers, etc. When will all this be mainstream? And what about the music director of Wright’s church who ended up murdered? How could the DNC let this happen?
I don’t know what is wrong with the DNC. The RNC and outside 527’s are not even warmed up yet on all these issues. After the convention Obama is going to get hit hard on all this and they know it. The only reason I can see that most of the superdelegates are not jumping ship is that many of them are elected officials and are looking out for their own interests first. I know they want Obama to win but at the end of the day they want to win their election more. If that means supporting a loser for president that is just what they will do. They dare not anger their base.
Fox just announced possibility of Colin Powell endorsing Obama at the Dem convention. Yikes that is not great news. I hope it’s not true.
The only reason would be the AA factor.